Natural gas infrastructure upgrades continue

Five years after TransCanada applied for a permit for its controversial Keystone XL pipeline, oil and natural gas pipeline projects are underway throughout the country.

Keystone has been delayed because U.S. State Department approval is needed for the 10 feet of pipe that would cross the border with Canada. Pipeline projects that remain entirely inside the United States need no such approval and are underway from North Dakota to the Gulf Coast and from California to New York.

While most of the industry’s attention over the past five years has been focused on oil, companies still are finding new sources of natural gas and are turning to new pipes to transport that fuel from the well to the customers.

Bitterly cold weather in recent weeks has led to surging demand and rising prices, refocusing the country’s attention on natural gas.

Even without this year’s winter weather, domestic natural gas supplies are expected to grow 56 percent between 2012 and 2040, according the the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2014 annual energy outlook.

Thousands of miles of pipe are needed to service that new production.

More than 2,900 miles of new natural gas pipelines with a capacity of about 22 million dekatherms per day is expected online by 2018, according to SNL Energy.

About 5.6 million dekatherms of capacity is expected to be operational by the end of this year. A dekatherm represents the amount of heat energy released from burning roughly 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

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by Adam Wilmoth

Energy Editor

Adam Wilmoth returned to The Oklahoman as energy editor in 2012 after working for four years in public relations. He previously spent seven years as a business reporter at The Oklahoman, including five years covering the state's energy sector....